22 August,2026 11:52 AM IST | Mumbai | mid-day online correspondent
Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) Chairman Tuhin Kanta Pandey. File picture
Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) Chairman Tuhin Kanta Pandey on Friday urged the mutual fund industry to prioritise investor outcomes at the centre of its next phase of growth as rising assets, expanding participation and rapid technological adoption increase the sector's scale and complexity, according to news agency IANS.
Pandey while noting that mutual funds have played a significant role in transforming India's capital markets and expanding participation among retail investors, said the industry's success should not be measured merely by the growth in AUM or the number of schemes launched.
"Success cannot be measured only by AUM, number of folios or schemes, it must ultimately be measured by investor outcomes," he said, adding that investor outcomes should define the industry's next phase of development.
The industry's assets under management (AUM) have grown sharply from around Rs 15 lakh crore in July 2016 to about Rs 86 lakh crore in July 2026, registering a compound annual growth rate of around 19 per cent.
There are more than 14 crore unique capital market investors in the country. The monthly systematic investment plan (SIP) contributions stood at around Rs 32,000 crore in July, while the number of unique mutual fund investors is also over 6 crore.
Pandey also advised the industry to broaden its investor base and set an ambitious target of doubling the number of mutual fund investors to around 12 crore over the next few years. To realise this objective, he advised the industry to evaluate and identify the measures needed to strengthen distribution networks and investor awareness.
The SEBI chief said investor education must become more multilingual, multi-agency and multi-media, as the mutual funds presence has expanded to every corner of the country and communication needs to be customised to meet the needs of different categories of investors.
Highlighting the growing participation of women, he said women now account for 34 per cent of individual investor AUM, describing their growth in the market as particularly strong.
Pandey noted the findings of the SEBI Investors Survey 2025, under which 22 per cent of Indian households indicated that they intended to enter the capital markets over the following 12 months. He particularly highlighted the strong growing participation of women and said this demographic now accounts for 34 per cent of individual investor AUM.
SEBI had late last year announced major reforms in the aimed at simplifying the market regulation, lowering transaction costs and improving cost transparency, to boost investor participation across mutual funds, equity and debt markets.
(With inputs from IANS)
